Carton with upper-end dispenser

ABSTRACT

A carton including a dispenser disposed at the upper end of the carton. The dispenser includes an at least partially detachable portion that is connected by detachable connection, such as tear strips. The tear strips define an edge of the carton. At least a portion of the edge along each of the end walls is offset from a top wall of the carton by a distance such that at least the uppermost tier of articles is exposed for removal but the articles are retained in the carton by the edge. The distance is no greater than the diameter of each of the articles.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/714,174, filed Sep. 2, 2005, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to cartons, and more particularly to a carton for enclosing multiple articles having a dispenser at an upper end.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Cartons for encasing and dispensing multiple articles such as soft drink cans or bottles are useful for enabling consumers to transport, store, and access the articles for consumption. The consumer typically prefers the flexibility to easily access one or more articles at a time. To that end, some cartons have dispensers which allow one or more articles to be removed, while continuing to encase the remaining articles. A portion of the carton is removed to form an opening from which articles may be dispensed.

Many cartons encase multiple rows or tiers of articles, one above the other, carried within the carton. Particularly when the articles are round cylinders, it is desirable to overcome the tendency of the articles to fall out when the consumer opens the carton or removes one or more of the articles through the dispenser. To prevent this occurrence, the dimensions and position of the opening forming the dispenser portion of the carton are frequently engineered such that remaining articles are restrained after an article is dispensed. However, such dispensers generally dispense articles one at a time or otherwise allow access to a limited number of articles. In addition, many such dispensers are difficult to operate.

Therefore, there is a need for a carton having an improved dispenser that facilitates easy access to a greater number of articles while also sufficiently restraining the articles remaining in the carton.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention advances the art with an improved carton with a dispenser at its upper end for dispensing articles such as beverage cans, while retaining the articles in the carton as desired. The dispenser includes an opening feature that incorporates a portion that is at least partially detachable from the body of the carton. The opening feature also includes a detachable connection such as a tear strip, the removal of which defines the upper edge of the remainder of the carton and the lower edge of the at least partially detachable portion.

Briefly described, the exemplary cartons are for enclosing articles that are arranged a plurality of tiers, each carton having an upper end from which the dispenser is formed. For ease of understanding, the upper end can be described as including the entire top wall and portions of a front wall, a rear wall, and opposing end walls, although the phrase is intended to encompass that end that is disposed upwardly when the carton is opened, which may be the bottom or side end, for example, when the carton is carried. The dispenser includes a detachable portion that can be partially or completely separated from the lower portion of the carton. This separation can be effected by operating a detachable connection. In the exemplary embodiments, the detachable connection extends at least partially across each of said end walls and across said front wall. However, the detachable connection may extend across or partially across any of the carton walls with the objective of liberating all or part of the detachable portion to define an opening for removing any of the uppermost tier of articles from the carton.

Advantageously, the opening has an edge and at least a portion of the edge retains the uppermost tier of said articles in said carton after the detachable portion is separated along the detachable connection. In embodiments where the detachable portion is to be partially detached, a fold line extends across the rear wall of the carton between the ends of the detachable connection, such that the detachable portion is hingedly connected to the carton after it is opened. If the detachable portion is to be fully removed from the carton, the detachable connection preferably extends across said rear wall.

In any event, the opening is bounded by an edge of the remaining lower portion of the carton. In the exemplary embodiments, the edge extends along the lower portion of each end wall, and along the lower portion of the front wall. The edge serves to retain the uppermost tier of articles in the carton. To that end, the shortest distance between the top wall and the end wall portions of the edge is less than the height of the articles in the uppermost tier, thereby preventing articles from rolling out of the carton even though the entire upper tier is revealed.

The carton is formed from a unitary blank that includes a front panel with opposing side edges and opposing end edges, a rear panel with opposing side edges and opposing end edges, and front and rear end flaps connected to the front and rear panel, respectively, along the opposing end edges thereof. In the illustrated embodiments, the detachable connection includes parallel severance lines that extend substantially continuously across one front end flap, onto and across the front panel, and onto and across the other front end flap that is connected to the opposite end edge of the front panel. In this fashion, the detachable connection approximates at least a portion of a tear strip.

The detachable connection may include tear initiation means, such as push tabs, to facilitate grasping an end of the tear strip to cross tear it from the carton. Indeed, any number of detachable connections and tear initiation means may be used to separate the detachable portion from the carton body as described herein.

The rear panel also has a pair of rear end flaps along its opposing end edges. Each rear end flap includes a complementary segment that cooperates with the portion of the detachable connection that spans the front panel and its associated front end flaps. Each complementary segment is positioned on the rear end flap to underlie the segment in the corresponding front end flap when the carton is erected. The corresponding front and rear end flaps are secured in a face contacting arrangement so that tearing the front panel and front end flap portions of the detachable connection will also tear away the rear end flap segments of the detachable connection. Thus, the rear end flap segments are also formed from a pair of severance lines extending from the distal edge of each rear end flap substantially to the adjacent end edge of the rear panel.

When the carton is erected and loaded with articles, which in the exemplary embodiments are substantially cylindrical, the resultant package is arranged such that the dispenser can reveal and retain the upper most tier of articles when the carton is opened, particularly when the articles in the uppermost tier have the same diameter or cross sectional area along the length of the article. The articles are arranged on their sides in at least one tier, with each tier extending along the bottom of the carton such that the ends of the articles are positioned along the side walls of the carton. The at least partially detachable portion of the carton that is integral to the article dispenser is formed at least from the top wall, and is connected at least to the front wall and the end walls by the detachable connection. Thereby, the detachable connection forms a severable line of joinder that, when severed, defines a front edge and end edges of the resultant opening. The minimum distance between the top wall and each of the end edges of the opening is less than the diameter of the endmost articles in the uppermost tier, so that the end edges of the opening form stopper walls to prevent the endmost articles in the uppermost tier from rolling out of the carton. The front edge may similarly be less than a diameter from the top wall, or may arch or angle downward to reveal at least part of the ends of articles in lower tiers.

In certain embodiments, the detachable connection includes two tear strips that are aligned to extend continuously across the end walls and the front wall. The tear initiation arrangement that facilitating a user's cross-tearing motion for detaching the detachable connection includes to push tabs, each being formed from an end of one of the tear strips. The push tabs can be located at the abutting ends of the tear strips, or the ends of the tear strips that extend onto the end walls.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an exemplary embodiment of a blank for forming a carton including a dispenser, according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a carton formed from the blank of FIG. 1.

FIGS. 3 and 4 are perspective views of the carton of FIG. 2 showing steps of an exemplary method of opening the dispenser, according to the present invention.

FIGS. 5 and 6 are perspective views of the carton of FIG. 2 showing the detachable portion of the carton being partially detached.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of a carton showing a fully detached detachable portion, according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of another alternative embodiment of a carton including a dispenser, according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein. It must be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention that may be embodied in various and alternative forms, and combinations thereof. As used herein, the word “exemplary” is used expansively to refer to embodiments that serve as illustrations, specimens, models, or patterns. The figures are not necessarily to scale and some features may be exaggerated or minimized to show details of particular components. In other instances, well-known components, systems, materials, or methods have not been described in detail in order to avoid obscuring the present invention. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present invention.

Referring now to the drawings in which like numerals indicate like elements throughout the several views, the drawings illustrate certain of the various aspects of exemplary embodiments of a carton including a dispenser at its upper end, according to the teachings of the present invention. As used herein, the phrase “upper end” refers to a portion of the carton that is intended to be uppermost when the carton is opened so that articles can be dispensed, and is not limited to any particular end of the carton. In other words, an end that is uppermost when the sealed carton is carried may not be the upper end when the carton is positioned for opening.

Referring to FIG. 1, a blank 10 is shown that can be folded and secured to form a carton 100 (best shown in FIGS. 2 and 3). Generally described, the blank 10 is formed from a foldable sheet material such as paperboard, corrugated board, plastic, cardboard or the like. The blank 10 includes a number of primary panels that are substantially rectangular and that are aligned along the longitudinal axis of the blank 10. The primary panels are hingedly connected one to the next along transverse fold lines, which are substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the blank 10. Specifically, a rear panel 12 and a front panel 16 are hingedly connected to opposing edges of a bottom panel 14 along fold lines 18, 20, respectively. Additionally, a first top panel 22 and a second top panel 24 are hingedly connected to an outermost edge of panels 12, 16 along fold lines 26, 28, respectively.

End flaps are hingedly connected to opposite ends of each primary panel along fold lines that are substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the blank 10. A first rear end flap 30 and a second rear end flap 32 are hingedly connected to opposite ends of the rear panel 12 along fold lines 34, 36, respectively. First front end flap 38 and a second front end flap 40 are hingedly connected along respective fold lines 42, 44 to opposite ends of the front panel 16. The blank 10 also includes minor end flaps that are hingedly connected to the panels 14, 22, 24. Bottom end flaps 46, 48 are hingedly connected to the bottom panel 14 along fold lines 50, 52, respectively. First top end flaps 54, 56 are hingedly connected to first top panel 22 along fold lines 58, 60, respectively, and second top end flaps 62, 64 are hingedly connected to second top panel 24 along fold lines 66, 68 respectively.

Severance lines extend at least partially across the front panel 16 and at least partially across end flaps 30, 32, 38, 40 so as to align when the carton 100 is erected, thereby forming an opening feature of a dispenser N for the carton 100, as described in further detail below. In the exemplary embodiment, tear strips 76, 78 provide an opening feature of the dispenser N. The tear strips are partially defined by a pair of substantially parallel severance lines 70 a, 70 b that extends laterally across the front panel 16 and across end flaps 38, 40 to define a fully detachable connection 84 that extends between edges of the blank 10. In addition, severance lines 72 a, 72 b extend from the outer edge 73 of rear end flap 30 toward fold line 34, and meet or otherwise intersect one another at some point along or near the fold line 34, to define a fully detachable segment of rear end flap 30 and a distal end of the tear strip 76. Similarly, severance lines 74 a, 74 b extend from the outer edge 75 of rear end flap 32 toward fold line 36 and intersect one another at some point along or near the fold line 36, to define a fully detachable segment of rear end flap 32 and a distal end of the tear strip 78. In the exemplary embodiment, a fold line 132 is disposed in the rear panel 12 and extends between the detachable segments of the rear end flaps 30, 32 or otherwise between the distal ends of the tear strips 76, 78. The fold line 132 can extend between a point where the severance lines 72 a, 72 b intersect and a point where the severance lines 74 a, 74 b intersect. It should be noted that, in alternative embodiments, severance lines may extend onto the rear panel 12 to define a detachable segment of the rear panel 12. For example, the severance lines 72 a, 72 b may meet severance lines 74 a, 74 b, respectively, to define a detachable segment (not shown) that extends across the rear panel 12. In such an embodiment, the detachable segment would replace the fold line 132 of the embodiment shown.

When the carton is erected, the severance lines combine to form a detachable connection C including two tear strips 76, 78. Specifically, the tear strip 76 is defined by at least a segment of severance lines 70 a, 70 b, 72 a, 72 b and the tear strip 78 is defined by at least a segment of severance lines 70 a, 70 b, 74 a, 74 b. A severance line 82 extends between severance lines 70 a, 70 b, separates proximal ends of the tear strips 76, 78, and at least partially defines push tabs 80 a, 80 b. The push tabs 80 a, 80 b form a tear initiation arrangement 82 as each can be gripped to facilitate tear initiation along the respective severance lines which define each tear strip 76, 78, as described in further detail below. The push tabs 80 a, 80 b are but one example of suitable elements for the tear initiation arrangement 82, such that as but not limited to pull tabs, finger apertures, and the like.

In alternative embodiments, a single tear strip can be used to form the detachable connection C or the tear strips can be replaced with any suitable detachable connection C, such as a rip cord, an adhesive strip, and the like. In other alternative embodiments, the opening feature is any suitable means for creating a substantially continuous separation of one section of sheet material from another, such as, but not limited, to a zipper, a frangible line, or the like. In certain embodiments, the severance lines or opening feature may be curved or otherwise contoured, as described in further detail below, rather than substantially straight as shown with reference to the exemplary embodiment shown in FIGS. 2-6.

As used herein, the phrase “frangible line” or “severance line” includes, but is not limited to, perforations, a line of perforations, a line of short slits, a line of half cuts, a single half cut, any combination of perforations, slits, and half cuts, short score lines, and the like.

The blank 10 further includes a suitable known handle H to allow the user to carry the carton 100. In the exemplary embodiment, the handle H is disposed in the bottom panel 14 such that, when the blank 10 is folded and secured to form the carton 100 as shown in FIG. 2, the handle H is located at the bottom end M of the carton 100, which is opposite or distal from the upper end U of the carton 100 where the dispenser N is located. By locating handle H at the end of the carton 100 that is opposite the dispenser N, the handle H is distanced from the opening feature such that stresses generated near the handle H by a user carrying the loaded carton 100 do not inadvertently initiate tearing or operation of the opening feature of the dispenser. The handle H is disclosed in more detail in U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,816, which is hereby incorporated by reference.

It is envisaged that, in any embodiment of the present invention, the carton can be formed from a blank by a series of sequential folding and gluing operations, which can be performed by a straight-line automatic packaging machine so that the carton is not required to be rotated or inverted to complete its construction. It is also envisaged that the series of sequential folding and gluing operations can be manually performed. The folding process is not limited to that described below and can be altered according to particular manufacturing or user requirements.

According to an exemplary method, the carton 100 can be partially constructed and preglued or otherwise secured as a tubular structure which may be collapsed for shipping or for loading into an automatic packaging machine. To form the collapsed tubular structure, the first top panel 22 is folded such that the inside surface of the first top panel 22 is in flat face contact with the inside surface of the rear panel 12. Glue is applied to the outside surface of the first top panel 22 and to the outside surface of each of the first top end flaps 54, 56 such that, as the blank 10 is folded along the fold line 20, the inside surface of the second top panel 24 at least partially overlaps, is in flat face contact with, and is thereby secured to the outside surface of the first top panel 22 to form a composite top panel 22/24. Similarly, the second top end flaps 62, 64 are secured to the first top end flaps 54, 56 to form composite end flaps 54/62, 56/64, respectively. When the collapsed tubular structure is formed as described above, the inside surface of the front panel 16 is in flat face contact with or otherwise overlaps at least a portion of the inside surface of the bottom panel 14 and at least a portion of the inside surface of the rear panel 12. The sheet material of the blank 10 can be secured together by any other known or yet to be developed means for securing sheet material, including glue or other adhesives, staples, mechanical fasteners, Velcro®, and the like.

The walls of the collapsed tubular structure are pulled apart to erect the tubular structure and articles are loaded through one or both of the open ends of the tubular structure. When arranged as a tubular structure, the rear panel 12, the bottom panel 14, the front panel 16, and the composite top panel 22/24 form a rear wall 112, a bottom wall 114, a front wall 116, and a top wall 118, respectively.

Once articles have been loaded, the end flaps are folded to form end closure structures at each open end of the tubular structure and thereby define end walls of the carton 100. Specifically, one of the end closure structures is formed as the end flaps 46, 54/62 are folded inwardly along fold lines 50, 58/66, respectively. Further, the end flaps 30, 38 are folded inwardly along fold lines 34, 42, respectively, and the end flaps are secured together in an at least partially overlapping arrangement to form a composite first end wall 120. Likewise, end flaps 48, 56/64, 32, 40 are folded inwardly along fold lines and secured together in an at least partially overlapping arrangement to form a second composite end wall 122. The end flaps are secured to one another by glue or other means for securing, as described above.

The carton 100 is then fully erected and loaded as shown in FIG. 2 and includes a dispenser N disposed at or near an upper end U of the carton 100. When the blank 10 is folded and secured to form the carton 100, the severance lines 70 a, 70 b cooperatively align with the severance lines 72 a, 72 b and the severance lines 74 a, 74 b, respectively, to define the tear strips 76, 78, which are the opening feature of the dispenser N. The tear strip 76 extends substantially continuously across the front wall 116 and across the first end wall 120 and the tear strip 78 extends substantially continuously across the front wall 116 and across the second end wall 122.

The articles B are arranged in the carton 100 in a matrix formation with sides thereof substantially parallel to the end walls 120, 122 and opposite ends thereof substantially adjacent to the rear and front walls 112,116. The matrix consists of several layers of articles B, each layer being disposed atop a previous layer to form tiers T of articles B. The first, or endmost, article B in each tier T is a member of a first column of articles, the second article B in each tier T is a member of a second column, and so on. It should be noted that the severance line defined by severance lines 70 a, 72 a, 74 a is located relative to the uppermost tier T of articles B, as described in further detail below.

FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate an exemplary series of steps used to utilize the detachable connection C dispenser N to provide an opening O through which one may access at least the upper tier T of articles B in the carton 100. Referring to FIG. 3, the push tab 80 a is separated from push tab 80 b along severance line 82 such that push tab 80 a can be grasped and pulled to tear the tear strip 76 away from the front wall 116 and away from the first end wall 120. Similarly, the push tab 80 b is grasped and pulled to tear the tear strip 78 away from the front wall 116 and away from the second end wall 122. Referring to FIG. 4, the upper end of the resulting carton 100 includes an at least partially detachable portion 130 formed from the top wall 118 and from portions of the front, rear, and end walls 116, 112,120,122. In the exemplary embodiment shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the detachable portion 130 is hingedly connected to the rear wall 112 along fold line 132 such that the detachable portion 130 can be hingedly folded rearward to expose a portion the articles B in the uppermost tier T of articles B, so that the uppermost articles B in the carton 100 can be accessed. In alternative embodiments, the fold line 132 may be replaced with a severance line or the tear strips 76 and 78 may continue across the rear wall 112 such that the detachable portion 130 may be fully detached as shown in FIG. 7.

The tear strips 76, 78 are positioned such that the distance S (shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 4) between the top wall 118 and at least a segment of the lower severance lines 70 a, 72 a, 74 a is less than the diameter D of each of the articles B (shown in FIG. 5) such that at least the endmost articles B in the uppermost tier T of articles B are retained on the underlying tier T of articles B when the detachable portion 130 is displaced or removed, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. The distance S may alternately be defined as the minimum distance between the top wall 118 and the uppermost edge E of the portions of the end walls 120, 122 that remain after the detachable connection C is removed. In certain embodiments, such as the carton shown in FIG. 8, the front wall portion of the opening feature is curved to facilitate access to articles below the upper tier T of articles B. In addition, the edge E of the end walls 120, 122 can be similarly curved to facilitate access to the endmost articles in certain tiers T.

Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that the carton described represents only one example of the various types and configurations of cartons that will be suitable for implementation of the various embodiments of the hinged top dispenser of the present invention. In addition, although the articles shown in the exemplary embodiments are cylindrical with circular cross-sections, the teachings of the present invention are applicable to cylindrical articles with different or irregular cross-sections.

The present invention has been illustrated in relation to a particular embodiment which is intended in all respects to be illustrative rather than restrictive. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the present invention is capable of many modifications and variations without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, as used herein, directional references such as “top”, “base”, “bottom”, “end”, “side”, “inner”, “outer”, “upper”, “middle”, “lower”, “front” and “rear” do not limit the respective walls of the carton to such orientation, but merely serve to distinguish these walls from one another. Any reference to hinged connection should not be construed as necessarily referring to a junction including a single hinge only; indeed, it is envisaged that hinged connection can be formed from one or more potentially disparate means for hingedly connecting materials.

The above-described embodiments are merely exemplary illustrations of implementations set forth for a clear understanding of the principles of the invention. Variations, modifications, and combinations may be made to the above-described embodiments without departing from the scope of the claims. All such variations, modifications, and combinations are included herein by the scope of this disclosure and the following claims. 

1. A package, comprising a plurality of substantially cylindrical articles each having a diameter, said articles being arranged on sides thereof in at least one tier; and a carton, comprising: a plurality of walls including a top wall, a pair of opposed end walls connected to said top wall, a front wall connected to a said top wall, and a rear wall connected to said top wall, wherein said front wall and said rear wall interconnect said end walls; and an article dispenser for dispensing articles from the carton, said dispenser including an at least partially detachable portion of the carton formed at least from said top wall, said at least partially detachable portion being connected at least to said front wall and said end walls by a detachable connection, said at least partially detachable portion to be detached from the carton to provide an opening for exposing at least an uppermost tier of articles for removal; wherein said detachable connection comprises a severable line of joinder for defining a front edge and end edges of said opening, wherein the minimum-distance between the top wall and each of the end edges of said opening is less than said diameter.
 2. The package of claim 1, wherein said at least partially detachable portion in further formed from an upper end of said carton, said upper end comprising at least part of each of said front and end walls.
 3. The package of claim 1, wherein at least one of said front wall and said pair of end walls comprises a tear initiation arrangement for facilitating a user's cross-tearing motion for detaching at least a portion of said detachable connection.
 4. The package of the claim 1, wherein the detachable connection comprises at least one tear strip.
 5. The package of claim 1, wherein the detachable connection extends at least partially across said rear wall.
 6. The package of the claim 1, further comprising a fold line extending between ends of the detachable connection such that the at least partially detachable portion is hingedly connected to the carton upon removal of said detachable connection.
 7. The package of claim 6, wherein said fold line is disposed on said rear wall such that said at least partially detachable portion is hingedly connected to the carton along said rear wall upon removal of said detachable connection.
 8. The package of claim 1, wherein the carton further comprises: a bottom wall connected to said front wall, rear wall, and said pair of end walls; and a handle formed in said bottom wall.
 9. The package of claim 3, wherein said detachable connection comprises a pair of tear strips; and said tear initiation arrangement comprises a pair of push tabs formed at the end of each said pair of tear strips.
 10. A carton, for enclosing articles arranged a plurality of tiers comprising: an upper end; a dispenser comprising detachable portion formed from said upper end; a detachable connection for at least partially separating said detachable portion from said carton to define an opening for removing articles from said carton; wherein said opening has an edge and at least a portion of said edge is for retaining the uppermost tier of said articles in said carton after said detachable portion is separated.
 11. The carton of claim 10, wherein said upper end comprises a top wall and portions of a front wall, a rear wall, and opposing end walls.
 12. The carton of claim 10, wherein said detachable connection extends across each of said end walls and across said front wall.
 13. The carton of claim 12, further comprising a fold line extending across the rear wall and between the ends of said detachable connection.
 14. The carton of claim 12, wherein said detachable connection further extends at least partially across said rear wall.
 15. The carton of claim 10, wherein a distance between said top wall and said portion of said edge that is for retaining said uppermost tier is less than the height of said uppermost tier.
 16. A blank forming the carton of claim
 10. 17. A blank for forming a carton, comprising: a front panel having a side edge and opposing end edges; a first front end flap and a second end flap connected to said front panel along opposing end edges; and a detachable connection extending substantially continuously across said first end flap, said front panel, and said second end flap, said detachable connection.
 18. The blank of claim 17, further comprising: a rear panel having a side edge and opposing end edges; a first rear end flap and a second rear end flap connected to said rear panel along said opposing end edges; at least one severance line extending from the distal edge of said first rear end flap substantially to said end edge of said rear panel; and at least one severance line extending from the distal edge of said first rear end flap substantially to said end edge of said rear panel. 